Dr. Popkin, W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, has a Ph.D. in economics, training in demography, and is a Professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dr. Popkin has an active U.S. research program in understanding dietary behavior. He is not only actively involved in research in the United States, but is also active in a number of other NIH-funded studies of countries around the world. His major US work is the large UNC global food research program which is evaluating how taxes and other regulatory actions affect diet and nutritional status in the US (Berkeley), Mexico, Chile and other countries and involved in other research studying US food industry behavior and its impact on food purchasing. His US work includes a series of NIH grants to study how socioeconomic change affects diet and food purchasing disparities.
Dr. Popkin serves on several scientific advisory organizations. He has published more than 480 journal articles and numerous book chapters and is one of the most cited nutrition scholars in the world. He is author of the book The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products that are Fattening the Human Race, translated into 15 languages.